A braid typically refers to any object created by interweaving or intertwining three or more separate strands of one or more materials in a diagonally overlapping pattern. Braids are commonly involved in hairstyling and rope making; however, this document pertains to the craft or hobby of braiding typically used to produce flat works, such as but not limited to rugs, hanging art works and other articles for enhancing home decor produced from strips of textiles/fabrics or bundles of fibers.
To produce a braid a hobbyist interweaves three or more strands of fabric together. When a larger number of strands are used flat but relatively thick braids can be created. These braids may ultimately be sewn or stitched together to make larger pieces such as rugs. It is often desirable to affix a completed portion and/or a beginning distal end of the braid or collection of fabric strips such that the hobbyist can apply a measure of tautness to the fabric strips by pulling them as the strips are braided together. There are various means of accomplishing this known in the art. A hobbyist can place the completed portion of the braid on a table and weight down the completed portion by placing a book, stone or brick on it. Alternatively, the hobbyist can clamp the completed portion of the braid in place using, for instance using a vise mounted to a work bench. Perhaps most simply a hobbyist can place the completed portion between her/his legs or underneath her/his feet.
To facilitate the effective, quick and trouble free braiding several braiding stands have been developed. The first type of stand, such as the one described at www.mtnloom.com/kumi.htm and known in the art as a Kumihimo stand, comprises an elevated circular disk, typically made of wood, that includes a center aperture. A hobbyist places the beginning or completed portion of the braid through the opening and is weighs it down, such as with a sandbag. The portion of the fabric strands that have yet to be braided are distributed around the circumferential edge of the disk with their ends typically tied around weighted bobbins. To braid, the strands and their associated weighted bobbins are moved and shuffled around the outer edge of the disk in a desired sequence or pattern. As the strands are pulled over and under each other, a tight braid is formed. The process is repeated until the desired length of braid has been produced. While this type of braiding stand can very effective, in typically available configurations with center apertures of about 2″ or less, they are not well suited to making wide and thick flat braids as are used in rugs for instance. Rather, this type of stand is most typically used to produce relatively thin ribbons and braided threads, such as might be used in fashion accessories. Further, the setup of this type of stand is relatively time consuming: a hobbyist has to weight the completed portion and tie the weight bobbins around each strand before beginning the braiding process. Finally, these stands are not particularly portable considering the disk itself is typically about 10″ or more in diameter. Also, the weight of the bobbins and the center weight/sandbag make transporting the stand less desirable.
Stands typically comprised of wood are also known that comprise a base and an upwardly extending post about 30-36″ or so in length. The top end of the post of these types of stands typically include one or both of a clamp and wire carding to hold a completed portion of a braid in place. The hobbyist sits or stands behind the stand and interweaves the various strands of fabric. As more of the braid is completed, the piece may be repositioned in the carding or clamp. The hobbyist may need to place her/his feet on the base of the stand to prevent it from tipping during use.
This type of stand suffers from several drawbacks. First, the post is typically too long to be conveniently transported around with the hobbyist. It is to be appreciated that a braider might desire to take her/his work piece with them as she/he goes about her/his regular daily activities such that she/he could braid during available breaks in the day. For example, a hobbyist might want to braid during her/his lunch break at lunch, during a car, bus or train ride to work or while flying in an airplane. The long post might prevent the hobbyist from conveniently packing the stand in a braiding bag or duffel bag, and as such she/he would be forced to forego braiding while away from the stand or resort to braiding without the stand, which may impact speed and/or quality.
A second drawback of the second type braiding stand is that the base is not particularly configured for comfortably receiving a person's feet thereon especially for extended periods of time. The crisscrossed legs of the prior art stand are raised above the ground about 1.5 inches or so and are relatively narrow in width (about 1.25″ or so). Accordingly, the extra pressure applied to certain portions of the hobbyist's feet located on top of the stand's legs along with the angle the feet would have to be positioned in, could cause the hobbyist to have cramps or pain in her/his feet and/or lower legs.
Finally, the types of clamps used to hold the work piece on the second type of braiding stand often limit its usefulness. For instance, some types of clamps only permit braids comprising three strands to be made as opposed to braids having four or more strands. Advancing the braid in the clamp can be time consuming as it involves releasing the clamp and then pulling the work article through the clamp to a new position.